Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner

Last night, our friends T & R took us here for their Chinese new year’s eve dinner.

The restaurant recently opened at the Ala Moana Shopping Center. They ordered a combination of a set menu with modifications.

Appetizer

Stuffed deep-fried bean curd skin. These were stuffed with wood tree ears (fungus), and mushrooms. Think a modern take on jai (aka monk’s food), these were pretty good.

Winter Melon Soup

Beijing Duck Buns

I liked the presentation on these. A little more scallions and plum sauce would have been good.

Beijing Duck Meat

Lobster!

Spicy Shrimp with Broccoli

Crispy Skin Chicken

Steamed Fish

T & R know that The Cat likes fish (how appropriate), so they added this to the meal. The Cat got to eat the head and the tail (Chinese tradition: everything begins and ends well).

Seafood Fried Rice

Sizzling Duck Meat with Vegetables

This dish was well done. The onions, bell peppers, and pineapple made a good combination for the duck meat.

The last course was crispy noodles with vegetables. I forgot to take a picture of this. There was some confusion with the noodles. T had specifically requested that the noodles be served last. But the restaurant served it first. When the noodles were served, I thought I had a picture, sigh. Oh well.

Coconut Milk and Red Bean Gelatin

Dessert was a coconut milk and red bean gelatin. Not too sweet, but refreshing after a heavy meal.

I think the restaurant needs to work out some kinks in the service area. While there are a lot of staff, sometimes the coordination is off. Opening jitters I guess.

My favorite were the duck and chicken dishes.

Happy Year of the Rabbit from The Mouse and The Cat!

I’m off to Aunty M’s to learn how to make jai (aka lo han tsai, aka monk’s food). Yay!

Enjoy.

The Mouse

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